Access by appointment only. Applications to consult this material should be directed
to the staff of the Harvard Film Archive.

Film prints are made accessible by appointment only and in close consultation with
HFA staff. Although films do not circulate for individual use, students, filmmakers,
artists, and researchers are encouraged to use the collections on-site. If their condition
allows, prints from the HFA collection may be viewed on a flatbed viewer at the HFA's
Conservation Center.

Reproduction and/or publication of materials subject to copyright requires written
permission from a) the copyright owner, his/her heirs or assigns and from b) the Fine
Arts Library, owner of the original material.

James Hinton began making photographs while he was an active participant in the Civil
Rights movement in the 1950s. As a witness to the violent reactions that the movement
provoked in the American South, he captured moments that were often overlooked by
the mainstream media. In 1957 he was one of several correspondents that documented
the shooting of Lester James in Seneca, South Carolina. In 1961 he documented the reprisals against Harry Briggs and the efforts by the NAACP to relocate Briggs and his family to New York City.
Hinton's photographs include images of those who walked alongside Dr. Martin Luther
King, as well as the angry white crowds that gathered along the march routes both
in the North and the South. He began exhibiting his photographs in 1963 and then went
on to study at the highly regarded Kamonge Photography Workshop for African Americans
in New York City in 1965.

In the late sixties, Hinton turned to commercial film production and in 1973 he was
hired as the cinematographer on the feature film Ganja and Hess. He used his experience as a documentary filmmaker and photographer to bring the
techniques of cinema verité to the shooting style of the film. A groundbreaking film
for the period, Ganja and Hess, (ostensibly a black sexploitation vampire film) became renowned for its all black
cast and its scenes of elegant, multi-lingual African Americans imbibing blood instead
of martinis. With Ganja and Hess, Hinton changed the look of African American filmmaking
by insisting that the skin tones of the black actors and actresses in the film not
be lightened photographically, a standard technique at the time.

The James E. Hinton Collection at the Harvard Film Archive consists of approximately
170 items: motion picture film projection prints, workprint materials, 16mm and 1/4"
magnetic audio reels, viewing copies and video masters on 1" video, 3/4" U-Matic,
Betamax, BetacamSP and VHS, as well as one set of Polaroid photographs created by
the photographer, cinematographer and filmmaker James E. Hinton.

Genres range from feature films (Ganja and Hess) to documentary, educational, and industrial shorts and commercials on a range of
topics, from many titles on African American history, the importance of arts in education
and in the community, to films about music, including footage from an unfinished documentary
on Dizzy Gillespie. Hinton's role in the production of titles in the collection ranges
from director to cinematographer to producer, and many elements and titles represent
the work of Hinton Productions, his production company. These include mostly commercials
and industrial films for the U.S. Government, car companies, and oil companies, and
in some cases Hinton's direct involvement with the titles is not documented.

Arts: an alternative education. James Hinton, producer; Evan K. Walker, script; Cindy Castleman, editor; Victor Kanefsky, editor; James Earl Jones, narrator, 1979. Educational documentary about how American communities are finding creative ways to
incorporate the arts into the lives of children during a time when arts funding is
the first to be minimized.

Big Room. James Hinton, director of photography, 1990. A television series featuring comedians who have popularized the art of stand-up comedy
over the last 40 years. Aired on the Ha! TV Comedy Network from 1989-1991.

Challenge to America. Hendrick Smith, Director; WETA, producer; Hendrick Smith Productions, 1992. Television documentary. The first half discusses the history of IBM, personal computers,
GM, and other car companies, while the second segment explores 2nd and 12th grade
classrooms around the world and compares the different ways the children are prepared
for the workforce.

Ganja and Hess. Bill Gunn, director; James Hinton, cinematographer, 1973. Narrative feature. A wealthy professor is stabbed with an ancient dagger that contains
latent germs which give him a taste for blood that can only be fulfilled by murder
of a variety of victims.

Hallah (S.O.S.): A crisis in medicine. James Hinton, director; Hinton/Garrett Productions; Larry Neal, script, 1973. A medical student recruitment educational film aimed at inspiring young African Americans
to pursue a career in medicine. Includes scenes of urban and rural doctors and discusses
the training, work, and need for more doctors. Shows street scenes, hospital & surgery
sequences, morgues, high school classrooms, people picking cotton, and a female pediatrician
making a house call in a poor rural southern town. Takes place at John Hopkins hospital
and Mound Bayou Community Hospital, where an older doctor talks about his struggle
becoming a doctor (in the 1940s?), and discusses mentoring younger medical professionals.
Community medicine is discussed as the future of medicine.

Helping People Help Themselves. Hinton Productions; Ray Gerald; Associated Black Charities, ca. 1985 An educational documentary film about how Associated Black Charities assists the community
by promoting growth, caring, and nurturing of children, helping people with HIV and
AIDS live their lives well, offering counseling, and teaching computer classes among
other things.

Moving on up. Harlem Audio Visual; James Hinton, producer & cinematographer, 1969 Educational documentary made for and with the cooperation of The Joint Apprenticeship
Program and the Institute of the Joint Apprenticeship Program of the Workers Defense
League.

The New-ark. LeRoi Jones, director; James Hinton, cinematographer; Harlem Audio Visual, 1968 Sponsored documentary film, made possible because of the cooperation of the Committee
for a Unified Newark of Newark, NJ.

The war against drugs: A benefit boxing exhibition. 1988 Micheal Spinks vs. Miguel Fuentes, Jr. with The Main Ingredient

Thursday, January 14, 1988, 7:00-10:00PM

(163)‡ HFA item #16034. The war against drugs: A benefit boxing exhibition. 1988 1 videocassette (VHS) of 1: mono, color; 1/2-inch.Edited version of the event.

(164)‡ HFA item #16029. The war against drugs: A benefit boxing exhibition. 1988 5 videocassettes (VHS) of 5: sil., color; 1/2-inch.Tapes are silent live recordings of the event, each with visible time code.

[Wardell sample reel]. ca. 1978

(165)‡ HFA item #16674. [Wardell sample reel]. ca. 1978 1 can of 1: mono, color; 16mm triacetate projection print.Can contains three short rolls; two are identical :60 spots for GULF, third is an
advertisement for SCORE.